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Pitching Feels

  • Keep backswing much shorter
  • Feel hands and club stop. Don’t yank on club like i do in the full swing.
  • Hands just drop and comes through with stomach and torso, with the pivot. 

 

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Same stuff at the range. The only thing I’ll add is gripping the club a bit firmer. Helps me feel the club better.

Same with my pitching, firmer grip, but softer wrists. I would always struggle with hitting shots off the toe, way off the toe. Firming the grip up made it so I hip the center on most shots. 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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The feeling is wanting to stop the swing at A2.5-ish. Did a some of this today. 

 

 

 

Note, Hands down stuff is still a struggle. Still can't get the feeling of releasing the angle in my right elbow. 

 

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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In reviewing my past few GEARS sessions. 

More of this... 

Compared to this...

 

Key differences. 

1. Hands are higher and right elbow less bent at top of swing (will work more on this). The swing can be shorter in a good way or not so good way. Good way being my right elbow stays less bent. 
2. The hands move better in transition. More down and back behind me.  Better way is back of right hand down to right pocket. Like shorter swing, good way and not so good way to do things.
3. Better flow to the swing. 

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Okay.

Just don't invent new things. Get good at these two things.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Key differences. 

1. Hands are higher and right elbow less bent at top of swing (will work more on this). The swing can be shorter in a good way or not so good way. Good way being my right elbow stays less bent. 

Adding in feeling the hands coming to a nice slow stop at the top. Like a car that slowly presses on the brake to stop. Get to hands higher, and less elbow bend with good rate. 


2. The hands move better in transition. More down and back behind me.  Better way is back of right hand down to right pocket. Like shorter swing, good way and not so good way to do things.


3. Better flow to the swing. 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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  On 6/1/2023 at 10:27 PM, saevel25 said:

Key differences. 

1. Hands are higher and right elbow less bent at top of swing (will work more on this). The swing can be shorter in a good way or not so good way. Good way being my right elbow stays less bent. 
Adding in feeling the hands coming to a nice slow stop at the top. Like a car that slowly presses on the brake to stop. Get to hands higher, and less elbow bend with good rate. 
2. The hands move better in transition. More down and back behind me.  Better way is back of right hand down to right pocket. Like shorter swing, good way and not so good way to do things.
3. Better flow to the swing. 

Expand  

1. Hands are higher and right elbow less bent at top of swing (will work more on this). The swing can be shorter in a good way or not so good way. Good way being my right elbow stays less bent. 
Adding in feeling the hands coming to a nice slow stop at the top. Like a car that slowly presses on the brake to stop. Get to hands higher, and less elbow bend with good rate. 

I need to really focus on controlling the backswing. I am catching myself making swings where my hands get to A3.5-ish (feel like), and then they wrap around my right shoulder (gaining depth). 

2. The hands move better in transition. More down and back behind me.  Better way is back of right hand down to right pocket. 
I need to do this without lowering my right shoulder, tilting back. I am getting a lot of the tipping back move lately. So, when I try to make full swings, I get thin and fat shots, and strikes off the toe.  

3. Better flow to the swing. 

Current Drill

1. Swing up as far as I can go while keeping my eyes on the ball. Usually feels like I get a BIG stretch in my right side. The swing feels like it stops around A3-A3.5. Pause here. 
2. Take back of right hand down to right pocket. Pause here. 
3. Slight pump and hit the ball with my turn. Even here I can get into a bad habit of tilting back. When I make the pump, the first move sometimes is tilting back, not turning through. 

 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Yay, seeing some change.

Made a small set up change. Felt my shoulders were more open, which by video looks more square to target line. Target feels way out to the right. My perception is definitely closed biased. 

Backswing: Feel hands start to slow down after A2, and stop at A3. Really feel the hands pause at the top. 

Transition: Flip the back of my right hand to my right pocket. 

Downswing: Try to time up a turn to hit the ball. This might be the most difficult right now. The sequencing is all foreign to me. So, strike is iffy on majority of the attempts. Still, I’m seeing stuff like in the video a bit more often than before. So small progress.

The crazy thing is how much doing this cleared up some other stuff with how my hips move. Previously, my butt would get closer to the ball, my head would back away from the ball. My turn rates would stall. 

 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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  • Administrator

Your right elbow is substantially more bent at P5 than it is at P4. I don't really love that "pull the hands behind you" move there from about 0:11 to 0:13.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Yea, see that now. I’ll try to do that better.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Ok, I need to do backswing stuff better. When I concentrate on trying to do the downswing stuff, the backswing gets bad. I was trying to feel more right elbow extension through the use of my tricep. I wanted to make sure I was extending my right elbow. In concentrating on this, my swing went back to overswinging. Focusing on the timing of the downswing feel, the backswing carried on. 

Good.png Versus BAD.png

The note for the good backswing is... 

For the backswing, I need to shift my weight away from the target, while keeping my hips facing towards the ball. I need to do more weight shift, and less hip turn. Even while feeling like my hips do not turn at all, and all I do is shift right, I get 45-50 degrees of turn. Once I shift right, I need to extend my right side as I send the club and arms up in the backswing. So feeling a stretch in my right side. 

Priority might be like 60% backswing, and 40% downswing stuff. I need to do the downswing stuff from a good backswing position. 

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Administrator
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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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So, some take aways. There are pretty simple. 

1. Stay wide with more wrist hinge in backswing. Keep swing shorter. 
2. Stay wide in the downswing. Hands get down fast. 

Drill #1 - Take club up to A3.5, drop hands down to A5, Club should be pointing back behind me, turn through impact chipping the ball. Trying to get the feel of hitting from that position. 

Drill #2 - Take club up to A3.5, pause, drop hands very fast down to A5. Do this 3-4x, then on one last down, turn through to hit. 

Drill #3 - With the club started about 1-foot in front of the ball, use momentum to fling it into the backswing and have the wrist and right arm gain flex sooner. Have the swing come to a stop at A3 slowly. Check that there is plenty of wrist hinge at A3. After a few of these, try to recreate feels from normal address position. 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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  • Administrator

To those wondering, those aren't new things. Just refinements to the same stuff Matt has been doing for awhile.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Yep, same stuff from before. More fine tuning and repetition. 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I went to Lowe’s 😁

IMG_1812.jpeg

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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I might need to go to Lowe's....

Matt

Mid-Weight Heavy Putter
Cleveland Tour Action 60˚
Cleveland CG15 54˚
Nike Vapor Pro Combo, 4i-GW
Titleist 585h 19˚
Tour Edge Exotics XCG 15˚ 3 Wood
Taylormade R7 Quad 9.5˚

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So, just some noticeable feels, I will categorize these as passive feels. Active feels are something I am trying to make my body do. Passive feel is just something I notice when I contrast good versus not so good. 

This is when I use the swing aid above to help limit my backswing length. Also, trying to do better with my hands in the downswing.  

  1. Overall swing duration is much quicker. More so for the downswing. 
  2. When I get my hands down, my right shoulder stays higher. Make sense. 
  3. There is less feeling of my lower body shifting towards the target. I just get more into a turning motion and end up on my left side. I get to my left heel better. 

 

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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